title: Widespread occurrence of chemical residues in beehive matrices from apiaries located in different landscapes of Western France.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The honey bee, Apis mellifera, is frequently used as a sentinel to monitor environmental pollution. In parallel, general weakening and unprecedented colony losses have been reported in Europe and the USA, and many factors are suspected to play a central role in these problems, including infection by pathogens, nutritional stress and pesticide poisoning. Honey bee, honey and pollen samples collected from eighteen apiaries of western France from four different landscape contexts during four different periods in 2008 and in 2009 were analyzed to evaluate the presence of pesticides and veterinary drug residues.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A multi-residue analysis of 80 compounds was performed using a modified QuEChERS method, followed by GC-ToF and LC-MS/MS. The analysis revealed that 95.7%, 72.3% and 58.6% of the honey, honey bee and pollen samples, respectively, were contaminated by at least one compound. The frequency of detection was higher in the honey samples (n = 28) than in the pollen (n = 23) or honey bee (n = 20) samples, but the highest concentrations were found in pollen. Although most compounds were rarely found, some of the contaminants reached high concentrations that might lead to adverse effects on bee health. The three most frequent residues were the widely used fungicide carbendazim and two acaricides, amitraz and coumaphos, that are used by beekeepers to control Varroa destructor. Apiaries in rural-cultivated landscapes were more contaminated than those in other landscape contexts, but the differences were not significant. The contamination of the different matrices was shown to be higher in early spring than in all other periods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Honey bees, honeys and pollens are appropriate sentinels for monitoring pesticide and veterinary drug environmental pollution. This study revealed the widespread occurrence of multiple residues in beehive matrices and suggests a potential issue with the effects of these residues alone or in combination on honey bee health.
authors.affiliation: LUNAM Université, Oniris, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire, Agroalimentaire et de l'Alimentation Nantes-Atlantique, Plateforme Environnementale Vétérinaire, Centre Vétérinaire de la Faune Sauvage et des Ecosystèmes des Pays de la Loire (CVFSE), Nantes, France. olivier.lambert@oniris-nantes.fr
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piroux
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Puyo
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thorin
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: L'Hostis
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wiest
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buleté
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Delbac
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pouliquen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D004350:Drug Residues / Q000032:analysis; D005602:France; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis; D010573:Pesticide Residues / Q000032:analysis; D011058:Pollen / Q000737:chemistry; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D010573:Pesticide Residues